Changes At Hard Rock Park

According to Myrtle Beach Online the new owners are planning on letting people who bought annual passes last year use them this year at no extra cost. They are also planning on lowering the cost of the annual pass from $150 to about $75 and the cost of admission from $50 to between $35 and $40.

With these changes and more will you go to the park this year?

Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

The lower prices will boost season pass sales, and the lower admission will help to lure more vacationers. They are also planning to beef up the kiddie ride section (4 more rides I heard), and put about $15 million into the park before it opens. Give it time.

Corey, there is NOTHING about the previous incarnation of Hard Rock Park that was similar to a Six Flags park. The park was clearly modeled after Islands of Adventure (maybe a little too heavy on the theme with not enough E-ticket attractions).

The park had problems, but boiling it down to "Six Flags with music" is pretty disingenuous. If that's all the park had been, it probably would have been more successful...

And I think they need to crack that admission price down to $25 at the absolute most. The reduced annual pass and local discounts will get the locals in, but $35 a head may still be too steep for the tourists (remember, Family Kingdom is a wristband/tickets park with no admission price).

Derek, the "pay-per-ride" idea was from one of the other groups that (unsuccessfully) tried to buy the park.

I was just pointing our Family Kingdom because the new owners have to remember that the tourists have other options. Not better options, mind you, but less expensive ones. Apart from Swamp Fox and a pretty fun drop tower, Family Kingdom is fairly nasty. It's a shame they survived and the Myrtle Beach Pavilion perished (although there's no argument that Swamp Fox was superior to the Hurricane).

Let me correct that - I'd prefer that both Family Kingdom and the Pavilion survived. But if one of them HAD to go, I'd have preferred to keep the Pavilion.

Thankfully they didn't get the park. We can all thank the local company B&C for closing the Pavilion. They closed it because they wanted to build a hotel and high end retail. A few years later, the plot of land still remains empty with no real plans to build. and the company just sold two of it's other properties. Instead of a nice, funky little amusement park, there is now a gigantic hole in the middle of Ocean Blvd.

I hope Family Kingdom can keep things going. I would love to see some improvements/additions happening there. It and what's left of Coney Island are the last Atlantic seaside amusement parks left. The Swamp Fox is one of the great older coasters out there. Highly recommended if you are a coaster lover and in the area.

Yeah, I went and im from OHIO. I kept begging my dad to let me go there. He looked at the prices, and noticed that they were $70 for people out of state. He got really mad at me. Cedar point charges $40, but they might raise it to $50. Even if they do, its still going to be a good deal. They definetely needed to lower the price. Does anyone know why it is cheaper for SC,NC residents?

Ben, I hate to break this to you, but your dad either lied to you or he sucks at the interwebs. Tickets from Day One to Closing Day were $50 at the absolute most (a $200 "rock star" ticket was advertised, but I never heard of anyone coughing up the money for it).

There were local discounts at some points (added far too late in the game to make a difference), but either way there was never a $70 ticket.

I'm from Ohio...got in for about $43 bucks. They offered an AAA discount. Admission price was $50, all year long.

I'm sure that the new management will recognize the need to attract local and state residents. They caught on to this last year, albeit way too late. It's madness to totally rely on the tourist population and not entice the locals with a discount. The season pass price is dropping too, and I think that if they can offer a nightlife sort of experience for all ages, they could do ok in that department as well.

I sort of understand the removal of Nights in White Satin. If they are wanting a broader appeal, that is one of the attractions that could use a change. I am sad though, because I liked the attraction. The theme was a bit on the dark side, but it was nice to ride a dark ride that wasn't full of "kids stuff" for once. I'm not sure what they were paying for the licensing, but that could also be a factor.

They could salvage the lighting and effects and add some animation to the whole thing. I would just hate to see them install laser guns, slap up some scenery, and make it like every other dark ride in the country. Let's just hope that the idea is original.

I don't see the Zeppelin name staying on the coaster for long either. Nothing about Led Zeppelin ever screamed roller coaster to me. It's a great ride, but to pay the money out to theme it to Led Zeppelin always seemed like a waste to me. If they are keeping the music theme, find a song with a title that would translate well to riding a roller coaster...be it flying, or driving fast, etc...and use that title for the name of the ride. The same goes for The Eagles coaster. It was originally supposed to be called Midnight Rider, after an old Allman Bros. tune. That name would have been a good one, but they switched it to "Life in the Fast Lane" after some kind of dispute. While they are at it, they should explore a new name for that ride as well.

I'm just happy to know that someone with money decided that this park was worth at least the nothing price they bought it for. If they play their cards right, they will be very rich soon.